Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Hurricane Melissa's Eyewall Pushing Ashore in Jamaica; House Speaker Holds News Conference; Venezuela Accuses U.S. of Plotting a "False Flag" Attack; Dodgers Win Game 3. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 28, 2025 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're following the breaking news. These are live pictures, look at this, of the strongest storm on the planet this year and getting even stronger and stronger as it makes landfall in Jamaica. Hurricane Melissa, the Category 5 storm, has intensified now packing sustained winds of 185 miles an hour. This truly powerful storm is now the second strongest storm in Atlantic history. The storm system is already engulfing Jamaica with the eyewall of the storm now pushing ashore on the island nation. Those living in Jamaica or visiting this island paradise, as it's called, are bracing for the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVAN THOMPSON, PRINCIPAL DIRECTOR, METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE OF JAMAICA: This is something that we've never experienced. And so, no one knows exactly what to expect at this time and that's really the biggest challenge, that we've never experienced the Category 5 hurricane, we've only seen them on CNN and other places, but, you know, we really are wondering just exactly how bad it will be and whether we can really get through this.

STEVE MCKINLEY, U.S. TOURIST STUCK IN JAMAICA: You know, it's really overwhelming. We've never been through anything like this and hearing the more and more updates and more reports and how it's getting stronger and stronger, we really have no idea what to visualize at the other side of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Nearly 3 million people live in Jamaica. We're going have live reports from Jamaica and the CNN Weather Center just ahead here in the Situation Room.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And our hearts are with them as they brace for impact, quite literally. All right. Happening now, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans are holding a news conference marking day 28 of the government shutdown. The political storm is only getting worse, it seems, and with that, a more severe toll on the American people.

The threat of 42 million Americans losing access to critical food assistance, known as SNAP, is just -- in these days is a serious possibility. Some food pantries are seeing fewer food donations, even as demand increases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN COX, LONG BEACH COMMUNITY TABLE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: This table is empty. All of these tables normally have three layers of boxes and they usually have boxes underneath. I feel like everybody knows that we're headed for even tougher times. So, more people are coming in, more people are taking food, trying to store it up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining us now to discuss is a SNAP benefits recipient, Shari Jablonowski. Shari, thanks for coming on the show. First of all, just tell us how you and your family are feeling now that it seems you won't be getting those food stamps this weekend unless there's some sort of last-minute breakthrough.

SHARI JABLONOWSKI, SNAP BENEFITS RECIPIENT: It's very tough because we count on those to feed our family and I don't get enough to support our family. My middle child has moved in with her boyfriend in order to help the cost of living and she also pays our cell phone bill, which is heartbreaking to me because I can't even afford to support the kids that I've raised since they were young.

[10:35:00]

And it's heartbreaking for me because I took them off of my sister when she was alive and she OD'd and I've had them all. And it's heartbreaking to me, very heartbreaking.

And the food pantries are just -- they're doing what they can do, but I don't have enough money with my Social Security and my pension to support it. And my two -- the middle child and the youngest are working their butts off. And my oldest son, well, I call them my kids, but the oldest nephew is trying to get on Social Security so desperately because he has issues with his health and his mental stability and he can't work.

I can't work. I have problems of my own and I can't work at all. It's just very difficult. Those food stamps are very important.

BROWN: So, what does it mean losing those food stamps?

JABLONOWSKI: And I don't know what we're going to do.

BROWN: Yes. What will that mean for you and your family, losing them?

JABLONOWSKI: I have no idea. I usually have my mother over for Thanksgiving and I don't even know how I'm going to do that. There's no way I can afford a turkey and to cook extra stuff here. There's no way I can do it. And I doubt very much the food pantries are going to give you a turkey. It's very heartbreaking.

BROWN: Do you wake up worried that you and your family could go hungry?

JABLONOWSKI: Yes. I can't afford all the bills in this house and I can't get out of my lease until March. So, I'm just totally screwed.

BROWN: Yes.

JABLONOWSKI: I don't know how else to put it.

BROWN: So, your story is so important because it shows the real impact of decisions made here in Washington. You are a widow. You're retired. The only income you have is Social Security and pension from your husband. And now, you're really worried about going hungry, you and your family. What is your message to politicians here in Washington?

JABLONOWSKI: You really didn't think this through very well. You really didn't. You all get paid. We don't. We're counting on that. And you took it away. And now, my kids' insurance could stop at the end of the year. You didn't think that through either. That's heartbreaking.

BROWN: Yes. Tell us more about the insurance because you're alluding to the premiums going up on the ACA subsidies, right, that will happen at the end of the year. Tell us how you and your family would be impacted by that.

JABLONOWSKI: Well, the Medicaid is what I'm referring to.

BROWN: OK.

JABLONOWSKI: Is supposed to -- my oldest son got a call from his welfare agent, and they get to determine whether or not he stays on his insurance. If he doesn't have insurance, he can't get his medication. If he doesn't get his medication, he's going to go crazy. He's going to end up in some institute somewhere. And then who pays for that? I can't afford it.

BROWN: Anything else you want to say, Shari?

JABLONOWSKI: No, it's just very heartbreaking. Please rethink this situation that you're doing. You all don't need to go hungry. You don't need to be without electricity. You don't need to be without gas. You can't do this to the people. I mean, I realize there are some bad people of the EBT recipients or the Medicaid. They're probably popping out children left and right just to stay on it.

[10:40:00]

But I'm not one of those people. I'm trying to stay alive. And you're hurting the people of the United States, but you'll go across country and stop wars. I realize that's important, but so is the United States. Please rethink your decisions. Help the United States.

BROWN: All right. Shari, Shari Jablonowski, thank you for coming on. And we are just thinking about you and your family. We are wishing you the best. And just continue to keep us posted on your situation if you would. We want to stay on top of that.

JABLONOWSKI: OK. Thank you very much for listening to me.

BROWN: Of course. Best of luck.

BLITZER: So, heartbreaking to hear those stories. Politicians have got to learn something from watching those people with real life experiences.

BROWN: Yes. And, you know, as she pointed out, politicians are still getting their paychecks. And she's waking up wondering, am I going to be able to feed my family? And there are real consequences no matter what your politics are, right? I mean, that message is from an everyday American, and it's an important one.

BLITZER: This government shutdown is a disaster for so many people. All right. Coming up, demanding accountability. We're going to speak to a father of a Camp Mystic counselor who was one of the 27 girls killed over the summer. The changes he wants to see. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, the president of Venezuela claims his country has captured CIA-linked mercenaries, he calls them, and is accusing the United States of plotting what he describes as a false flag attack. That's an operation when one group carries out an act but makes it look like another group is to blame. The U.S. has already carried out a number of airstrikes targeting boats of alleged narco- terrorists, and it comes against the backdrop of the U.S. warship, a huge warship. This one. It's now docked in Trinidad and Tobago. This is a guided missile destroyer. Venezuela's president says this move is to fabricate a new eternal war against his country.

BROWN: Let's go live now to CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon in Caracas. So, Stefano, we're going to get to that in just a moment, but have -- you have some news about new strikes on suspected drug traffickers, right?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Pamela. Happening at this hour, breaking news is that the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, just announced four new strikes against alleged drug trafficking speed boats. These ones, the secretary of defense has said, have taken place in the Pacific. So, in a different area from where I am in Venezuela, but leading to at least 12 of these alleged narco-traffickers killed, and that is by far the highest death toll that we have reported in a single day, Pamela, since this escalation began.

We're talking here of more than 50 people killed since the beginning of August, especially without the White House really providing any conclusive evidence that these people were indeed involved in narco- trafficking. But these -- yet again, these new announcements of four new strikes in the Pacific signals that the White House is really going all-in in increasing the pressure and increasing the cost for drug traffickers in this region, and unfortunately, one of them is alleged to be the president of the country where I am, Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who, just like as Wolf was saying yesterday, denounced this false flag operation against, from the CIA. Now, coming in from Maduro, everything that he says, we need to take it with a pinch of salt. We can't just take it in his word, and I want to stress that the president of Venezuela did not provide any conclusive proof behind this plan either. They said that they have detained mercenaries. We don't know how many of these people have been detained or where these detainees come from, whether they were Trinitarians, Venezuelans themselves, U.S. citizens. We are still learning these details as they come.

But I think, Wolf, Pamela, this is a signal of the tension that is happening right now in the Caribbean and perhaps the potential for open conflict, especially with the firepower that is coming into the region. Pamela? Wolf?

BROWN: All right. Stefano, thank you so much. Wolf.

BLITZER: Good report indeed. I want to bring in CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton right now, and I want to start, Colonel, with the breaking news on these strikes in the eastern Pacific. The U.S. is escalating these strikes big time right now. Where do you see this ending?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST AND U.S. AIR FORCE: Well, I think we are kind of at a stage, Wolf, where we can't really tell exactly where this is going to end because it's pretty clear that the counter-drug operations have extended themselves not only from the Caribbean but also now into the, as you mentioned, eastern Pacific.

So, what that means is not only is Venezuela or Venezuelan territory a possible target, but you're also talking about potential targets in or near Colombia and Ecuador. So, that could, you know, lead to a widening of the military's involvement in this counter-drug or what appears to be at the moment a counter-drug operation.

BLITZER: What's your reaction to these allegations from the president, the president of Venezuela, I should say, that the U.S. is operating what he describes as a false flag operation in his country?

LEIGHTON: Well, it kind of has shades of the Bay of Pigs where back in 1962 when the Cuban mercenaries were used by the CIA to try to decapitate, in essence, the Castro, nascent Castro regime. That is something that we don't have enough details yet, but it really seems like the Venezuelans are trying to accuse the U.S. of mounting a similar operation.

[10:50:00]

Now, it might be the case that this has not happened at all, that this is just a false story that Maduro is planting, but we don't know enough yet to see whether the CIA has actually been involved in something like this.

BLITZER: As you know, President Trump recently acknowledged publicly that he authorized the CIA to operate in Venezuela. Do these allegations of a false flag operation sound like something the CIA would be involved in? LEIGHTON: Well, they certainly have the capability to do that. They have a paramilitary aspect to them at the CIA, and that organization within the CIA has the capability to conduct such operations, but they shouldn't be doing it in a way that makes it easy for the Venezuelans to capture them, and that would, of course, be a significant blow if that, in fact, is a CIA operation.

BLITZER: The U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago are conducting what are described as joint military exercises. The U.S. Navy's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is headed to the Caribbean right now. What message is that sending to the region?

LEIGHTON: Well, it's very much a message of the U.S. is not only expressing an interest in the region, but it's actually moving its forces into the area so that it can potentially control the narrative and control anything that happens with the Venezuelan government, and, Wolf, what that means is that the U.S. is basically poised to conduct military operations on Venezuelan territory if it chooses to do so.

Now, whether or not it does that is, of course, another question, but they're in position or will soon be in position to do that as long as the hurricane doesn't interfere with those operations.

BLITZER: Very tense situation indeed. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you very, very much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Wolf, did you stay up until 2:30 a.m. watching this?

BLITZER: No.

BROWN: It took 18 innings, but the Dodgers pulled out the win at home in Los Angeles. The home run that put the Dodgers on top.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

BLITZER: Game three of the World Series was won for the history books, it was amazing. The Los Angeles Dodgers needed 18 innings. Yes, 18 innings to beat the Toronto Blue Jay, 6 to 5.

BROWN: And it all ended with a major home run. CNN's Andy Scholes was at Dodgers Stadium to see it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, what a night here in la. All of these fans, they grinded through this game. They actually had to reopen concession stands. At one point. They had two seven inning stretches. They had another one in the 14th inning. But in the end, these fans, they got to see an amazing win and another epic performance from Shohei Ohtani after doubling in the first inning, the lead off for the Dodgers. Ohtani was up again in the third, and he launched this one for a solo home run. It was his second of the series. That made it two to nothing Dodgers.

Then with a runner on Ohtani, an RBI double in the fifth. the Dodgers, they would tie this game at four later in the inning on an RBI single from Freddie Freeman. And the Blue Jays would retake the lead, but then guess who? Ohtani again. Another solo home run ties the game at five. Ohtani, four for four, two doubles, and two home runs at that point.

We'd go all the way to the 18th inning, tying the World Series record, which was set by the Dodgers and Red Sox back in 2018. And Freddie Freeman finally ends it, the reigning World Series MVP, with the walk- off home run. Dodgers win in 18 final 6 to 5.

FREDDIE FREEMAN, L.A. DODGERS: When you grind and fight and our bullpen and our pitching staff did what they did to have that go six hours and 40 minutes or so, that's as good as it gets.

SCHOLES: The game ended up lasting six hours and 39 minutes. And needless to say, all the fans couldn't have been happier when Freddie ended it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I tell you?

SCHOLES: Can you believe it's over?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's over, baby. It's over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's finally over.

CROWD: Freddie, Freddie, Freddie.

SCHOLES: And not going to be a lot of rest for Shohei Ohtani. He's going to be on the mound starting for the Dodgers in game four later on Tuesday. But just what a game we had here Monday night in L.A. One these fans will never forget, the media as well. That was certainly the longest game I've ever been to in my life. Back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Thanks to our Andy Scholes for that excellent, truly excellent report. Pamela.

BROWN: He's going to have a long day too, if he was up late. All right. Well, President Trump is asking a New York Appeals Court to toss out his conviction in a 2024 hush money case. He's arguing among other things that the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity voids the conviction. In the court filing, Trump's lawyers also said the judge, quote, "refused to recuse himself despite having made political contributions to President Trump's electoral opponents and despite having disqualifying family conflicts." If this conviction isn't overturned, then the president will still be considered a felon. Wolf. BLITZER: Also new this morning, the GOP-led House Oversight Committee has sent a letter to the attorney general, Pam Bondi, claiming President Biden's pardons signed by Autopen are quote, "void." The committee are argues President Biden showed such cognitive decline in office that it's unclear if he fully understood the pardons and commutations issued under his name. They're urging the attorney general to deem those clemencies invalid and to consider charges against some of Biden's aides. Biden has strongly rejected those claims saying he made all the decisions himself as --

[11:00:00]